Patent Application
20160128907
The present disclosure relates to disposable covers, including disposable covers for disposable liquid or semi-liquid waste receptacles, such as spittoons.
Spittoons are referenced in 19-century and earlier writings as a fairly commonplace item in households, offices, and other social settings. The widespread adoption of modern plumbing and changes in social behavior have reduced but not eliminated public demand for spittoons. Unlike traditional spittoons, many modern spittoons are not cleaned and reused. Instead, disposable containers such as paper cups are used as spittoons, and discarded after use. Dental offices have retained spittoons, typically plumbed with drains and running water to immediately flush waste liquids. Stand-alone, portable spittoons are still sold for use in bars, at certain other events where tobacco chewing is prevalent, for wine-tasting venues, hospitals or health care facilities, and for other niche markets.
Problems with disposable spittoons include maintaining an attractive appearance during use, controlling odors, and preventing spills. Besides being unappealing, waste liquids contained in the spittoon may pose a biologic hazard. Therefore, it is important to protect workers handling a used spittoon from contact with contained wastes. It may also be important in some contexts to prevent any spreading of hazard from a liquid waste by insect vectors. Open paper cups are not designed to control these problems, and consequently are not optimal for use as spittoons. Disposable spittoon covers have been developed to better control spills, but do not adequately resolve more demanding problems of disposable spittoons such as controlling odors, maintaining an attractive appearance, or discouraging insects. In addition, existing covers are only able to fit one size of paper cup, and therefore place more demands on the end user to stock the proper matching sizes of cups and covers.
It would be desirable, therefore, to make improvements in a disposable spittoon cover for overcoming all of the aforementioned limitations. At the same time, it is also desirable to preserve the advantages of low cost and disposability afforded by disposable spittoon covers. Solutions for these and other limitations of prior art spittoon covers are presented in the specification that follows.
This summary and the following detailed description should be interpreted as complementary parts of an integrated disclosure, which parts may include redundant subject matter and/or supplemental subject matter. An omission in either section does not indicate priority or relative importance of any element described in the integrated application. Differences between the sections may include supplemental disclosures of alternative embodiments, additional details, or alternative descriptions of identical embodiments using different terminology, as should be apparent from the respective disclosures.
In an aspect of the disclosure, a disposable spittoon cover or a lid for a container, may consist essentially of a contoured, resilient sheet material of one piece having contours defining various cooperating components. These components may include a circular groove disposed around and adjacent to a circular periphery of the sheet material, which groove is concave towards a first side of the sheet material, intended to fit snugly over the rim of a disposable cup. The components may further include a cone-shaped (conical) tunnel, disposed at a circular center of the sheet material, having an open conical base oriented towards a second side of the sheet material opposite to the first side. That is, the open conical base of the tunnel faces upwards to receive waste fluids when the cover is fit on to a disposable cup. The components may further include a flap over a conical vertex of the conical tunnel, the flap defined by a perimeter cut through a lateral surface wall of the cone-shaped tunnel and joined to the lateral surface wall by a resilient hinge piece. The flap operates to admit fluids into an attached cup, but otherwise remains closed during use to maintain a more attractive appearance, control odors, and reduce access by insects.
In other aspects, the contours of the cover may further define an annular wall extending between and around the open conical base of the cone-shaped tunnel and the circular groove, providing substantial vertical separation between the base and the groove. The circular groove may have a cross-section contoured for fitting over a bead around a rim of a container, such as a disposable cup. For example, the cross-section may be generally semi-circular and narrowed at an open end thereof. The contours of the cover may further define one or more additional circular grooves disposed between the circular periphery of the sheet material and the circular groove, each configured for fitting a cup of different diameter than other ones of the grooves. In an embodiment, one of the additional circular grooves runs around the open conical base of the tunnel, positioned at the terminus of the conical base. A second one of the additional circular grooves may be disposed in the annular wall intermediate between the groove positioned at the terminus of the conical base and the circular groove adjacent to the periphery of the cover.
In other aspects, the flap may be biased away from the circular center of the sheet material, where the apex of the conical tunnel lies. The flap may include a substantially planar body joined to the hinge. The substantially planar body of the flap may be generally elliptical in shape, and oriented obliquely to a conical base defined by the conical tunnel. The flap and hinge may be formed by cutting with a die from the wall of the conical tunnel. The flap is operative to admit, under influence of gravity, a fluid deposited in the cone-shaped tunnel through an opening in the sheet material formed by the perimeter cut of the flap. The bias in position of the flap along with its oblique angle relative to the base of the cone may facilitate its function for admitting fluids.
In other aspects, the sheet material may consist essentially of an organic polymer material. The organic polymer material may be characterized by a uniform thickness on the range of 0.004 to 0.040 inches. The organic polymer material may be, or may include, any one or more of a polystyrene, polyvinylchloride, or polyethylene material. In alternative embodiments, the sheet material may comprise a paper or cardboard material, for example, waxed cardstock.
A more general-purpose cover may also incorporate a multi-groove feature similar to that used on the spittoon cover. For example, a cover for a container, consisting essentially of a contoured, resilient sheet material of one piece may include contours defining a first circular groove disposed around and adjacent to a circular periphery of the sheet material, the first circular groove having a first diameter and being concave towards a first side of the sheet material configured for fitting snugly over a rim of a disposable cup of matching diameter. The contours may further define a second circular groove disposed in the sheet material concentric to the first circular groove, the second circular groove having a second diameter smaller than the first diameter and being concave towards the first side of the sheet material configured for fitting snugly over a rim of a disposable cup of matching diameter. The contours may further define a cover comprised of the sheet matter closing an interior of the second circular groove.
Further aspects of the general purpose multi-groove cover may include an annular wall formed in the sheet material and interposed between first circular groove and the second circular groove, thereby spacing the first circular groove apart from the second circular groove in a direction perpendicular to a plane defined by the first circular groove. The cover may be contoured in one of various configurations, for example, a dome concave towards the first side of the sheet material or a flat sheet. A third circular groove may disposed in the sheet material concentric to and inward of the first circular groove The third circular groove may have a third diameter smaller than the first diameter and larger than the second diameter. Like the first and second grooves, the third groove may be concave towards the first side of the sheet material configured for fitting snugly over a rim of a disposable cup of matching diameter.
A disposable spittoon may be provided by covering a disposable cup having a top opening defined by a sidewall, the sidewall connected to a circular bottom of the cup, with a disposable spittoon cover as described herein. The disposable cup may be, for example, a paper cup, a plastic cup, or an expanded polystyrene cup.
The foregoing summary provides an overview and selected details of disposable spittoon cover and applications there for. Further aspects and details of the disposable spittoon cover are provided in the detailed description that follows. The drawings accompanying the written disclosure will first be described briefly.
The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Like element numerals may be used to indicate like elements appearing in one or more of the figures.
The present disclosure describes a disposable spittoon cover for a paper cup or the like, with a conical tunnel having an entry hole for admitting waste fluids near or at an apex of the tunnel, and an integral, resilient flap covering the entry hole. The flap may be formed at a slight angle to the tunnel walls, in the range of about 5° to 20°, and at an oblique angle to the conical base plane of the tunnel. The disposable cover may further include two or more concentric grooves configured for fitting snugly to rims of disposable cups, with each of the grooves configured to fit to a cup of different diameter. The grooves may be separated and spaced apart from one another in a direct transverse to a plane defined by any one of the circular grooves (e.g., a “vertical” direction), by one or more interposed annular ring walls. As used herein, “up” or “upwards” and “down” or “downwards” should be understood with reference to side views in the drawings, for example,
Referring generally to
The components may further include a cone-shaped tunnel, also referred to as a conical tunnel 110, disposed at a circular center of the sheet material. The tunnel 110 may include an open conical base oriented towards an upwards side of the sheet material opposite to the downwards side. That is, the open conical base of the tunnel 110 faces upwards to receive waste fluids when the cover 100 is fit on to a disposable cup 102, as shown in
The flap 125 may be biased away from the circular center of the cover 100, where the apex of the conical tunnel lies. This is shown most clearly in
In an aspect, the flap body 120 and hinge 122 may be cut using a single integrated vacuum thermo-forming operation. In an alternative, the flap 125 may be cut in an operation separate from forming the sheet material. First, thermo-forming may be used to form a pad truncating the conical tunnel over a conical vertex thereof, biased away from the circular center of the sheet material and oriented obliquely to a conical base defined by the conical tunnel. The pad may be co-extensive with the flap body 120, and molded at the chosen oblique angle to the base of the tunnel 110. Then, the pad may be cut from the remainder of the cover using a separate die-cutting operation, except for a hinge portion that remains attached to the conical tunnel.
The circular groove 160 may have a cross-section contoured for fitting over a bead around a rim of a container, such as a disposable cup. For example, the cross-section may be generally semi-circular and narrowed at an open end thereof, as shown in
Each of the grooves 130, 150, 160 may have any dimensions and shape suitable for fitting snugly to the rim of a disposable cup, with each groove designed to fit a cup of different diameter. For example, the grooves 130, 150 and 160 may be concentric and of respective diameters as follows. The innermost groove 130 may have an outside diameter of 74 mm (2.91 in) for fitting a standard small size soda cup. The intermediate groove 150 may have an outside diameter of 89 mm (3.50 in) for fitting a medium size soda cup. The outermost groove 160 may have an outside diameter of 94 mm (3.70 in) for fitting a large size soda cup. Various different groove shapes and dimensions are known in the art, for fitting commonly-available types of disposable cup.
Contours of the cover 100 may further define an annular wall 140 extending between and around the open base of the cone-shaped tunnel 110 and the circular groove, providing substantial vertical separation between the base and the groove. The wall 140 may be used to raise the base of the tunnel 110 above the groove 150 by a substantial amount up to about one-half the length of the tunnel 110. For example, the wall 140 may be in the range of 0.5 and 2.0 inches high, such as 1.0 inch, for a cover of typical size. As shown in
In alternative embodiments, as shown in
A sheet material used to form the cover 100 as a single piece may consist essentially of an organic polymer material. The organic polymer material may be characterized by a uniform thickness on the range of 0.004 to 0.040 inches, depending on qualities of the selected structural material. The organic polymer material may be, or may include, one or more of polystyrene, polyvinylchloride, or polyethylene, or other suitable polymer material. In alternative embodiments, the sheet material may comprise a paper or cardboard material, for example, waxed cardstock. The material configuration should be rigid enough to provide structural integrity and resiliency to the flap and grooves, while being as thin as possible for disposability and low cost. In embodiments, the sheet material may be a stock plastic material used in the manufacture of coffee cup lids or the like, for example, a 0.020 inch thick high impact styrene sheet.
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Accordingly, disposable spittoon covers, disposable spittoons, and other disposable covers of various designs including a multi-groove feature are disclosed. The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the novel subject matter disclosed therein. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles described herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein but should be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
